9P9ue

Religion and Religious Societies
Article 136
(1) Civil and political rights and duties shall be neither dependent
upon nor restricted by the exercise of religious
freedom.
(2) Enjoyment of civil and political rights and eligibility for
public offi ce shall be independent of religious affi liation.
(3) No person shall be required to disclose his religious convictions.
The authorities shall have the right to inquire into a
person’s membership in a religious society only to the extent
that rights or duties depend upon it or that a statistical
survey mandated by a law so requires.
(4) No person may be compelled to perform any religious act
or ceremony, to participate in religious exercises, or to take
a religious form of oath.
Article 137
(1) There shall be no state church.
(2) The freedom to form religious societies shall be guaranteed.
The union of religious societies within the territory of the
Reich shall be subject to no restrictions.
(3) Religious societies shall regulate and administer their affairs
independently within the limits of the law that applies
to all. They shall confer their offi ces without the participation
of the state or the civil community.
(4) Religious societies shall acquire legal capacity according to
the general provisions of civil law.
(5) Religious societies shall remain corporations under public
law insofar as they have enjoyed that status in the past.
Other religious societies shall be granted the same rights
upon application, if their constitution and the number of
their members give assurance of their permanency. If two
or more religious societies established under public law
unite into a single organisation, it too shall be a corporation
under public law.
Extracts from the German Constitution of 11 August 1919 133